20th May 2015
Following the election win for the Conservative party, returning health secretary Jeremy Hunt promised a transformation of general practice to a seven-day service. Hunt’s reappointment was broadly welcomed by health leaders, believing it will provide badly-needed continuity to the sector’s infrastructure. The GPC has been vocal in asking that he abandon ‘unrealistic’ and ‘populist’ access plans, however: The Tory party has promised 8am to 8pm opening hours, with seven-day access for every patient in the country by 2020.
GPC chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul remarked upon the immediate crisis in workforce and workload, and that Hunt needs to deal with the "harsh, bleak reality that we simply don’t have a general practice workforce that can meet current pressures." Moreover, King’s Fund senior research fellow Rachael Addicott said that while plans to expand access could be technically possible it was ‘questionable’ whether GPs could deliver them with current resources and capacity. The proposed 5,000 new GPs have left something of a hole in the party’s health campaign, with many uncertain of the pledge’s feasibility. Former RCGP chairwoman, Prof Clare Gerada, slammed the plans. She argued that same-day appointments for the elderly would increase inequalities by ignoring the effects of deprivations – “access isn’t the most important thing that equates to outcome; it’s continuity. We don’t need seven-day general practice.”
Despite the doubts, many believe the Conservatives do support general practice, with Ms Addicott ‘encouraged’ that the government does not appear to work against the NHS’s own vision. There has been a lot of instability and fragmentation over the past few years, so with Jeremy Hunt back in the post, it does provide some much needed continuity...hopefully everybody can get on with trying to achieve the ambitions of the ‘Five Year Forward View’ without concentrating on structural upheavals.” The King’s Fund has called on the party to use the forthcoming spending review to put the NHS on a sustainable financial footing. The Tories' pledged £8b-per-year funding rise is considered ‘the bare minimum needed to maintain standards of care and will not pay for new initiatives such as seven-day working.' The NHS has committed itself to £22bn efficiencies over five years, but the King’s Fund called for additional funding this year and a ‘renewed drive to improve productivity.’
Conservative Party: Key Health Policies
- Spend at least an additional £8bn by 2020 above inflation to fund NHS England’s ‘Five Year Forward View’
- Continue to increase spending on the NHS so it remains free to use
- 5,000 extra GPs by 2020
- Invest more in primary care to help prevent health problems
- GP access 8am to 8pm, seven days a week for all patients by 2020
- Same-day appointments for over-75s
- A name GP for all
- Ensure GP appointments and repeat prescriptions are available online
- Integration of health and care through the Better Care Fund
- Increased funding for mental health
- Ensure English GP practices are safe
- Ensure the CQC rates all practices
- Patients will have full access to information about the safety record of all NHS providers
- Full patient access to electronic health records